Red Raiders look to bounce back against Marquette Friday

The Brookfield Central boys basketball team jumped out to a fast start Friday and defeated Wauwatosa East, 58-42.

Tosa East fell to 6-5 overall and into fourth place (3-2) in the Greater Metro Conference and now faces arch-rival Marquette, who is in third-place (4-1) in conference play and 8-2 overall, Friday at Tosa East.

"We're going back to the drawing board," Tosa East coach Tim Arndorfer said. "Marquette is going to be waiting for us. They're not feeling bad for us. Nobody is going to feel bad for Tosa East now that we're struggling."

The Lancers built a 22-6 first quarter lead Friday at Central and then the teams played to a 36-36 tie the rest of the way.

"Give them credit," Arndorfer said. "They came out blazing hot - four 3's in the first quarter. They couldn't miss. We had to respond offensively. We competed the other three quarters but until we put the four quarters together, it's going to be a long year."

Central junior guard Riley LaChance had nine points with two 3-pointers and Peter Mattiacci put in two 3-pointers to spark the first-quarter run.

"That's been our big thing. If you want to be a champion you have to have the characteristics of a champion," Central coach Mark Adams said. "One of the things is how hard you come out. Our thing is to try and outwork people and we are doing that."

Tosa East had only three players score in the first half - Anthony Carroll had six and Nate Moore and Ben Mihelich had five each. LaChance had 11 and Elijah Goodman had eight points and seven rebounds at intermission for Central.

Central led 34-16 at halftime and 50-32 after three periods.

In the third quarter, Carroll got hot with 10 points, while the Lancers' LaChance added eight and junior Caleb Mortag had three dunks.

"It's a broken record really," a frustrated Arndorfer said. "When you look at the box score; another quality opponent, we're right there. But this time it was the first quarter.

"Other games it's been the fourth quarter. We had games where it's been the second quarter, third quarter. There is no rhyme or reason to when it was going to happen."

Carroll led Tosa East with 16 points and Mihelich added 10, while LaChance led all scorers with 21 and Goodman had 12 points and 13 rebounds.

When asked how the Red Raiders are holding up, the soft-spoken Arndorfer was candid.

"They're frustrated. I think. I hope," he said. "We used to do this to other teams and now it's being done to us. We need someone to step forward, help right the ship.

"We have to keep working to make strides and hopefully be playing our best ball toward the end of the year."

This site uses Facebook comments to make it easier for you to contribute. If you see a comment you would like to flag for spam or abuse, click the "x" in the upper right of it. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use.

E-mail Newsletter

Your link to the biggest stories in the suburbs delivered Thursday mornings.